Monday, August 8, 2011

The Real Priority Of DHS

John Morton, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has said much about ICE's priorities. Basically the lowest priority of ICE is the arrest and removal of illegal aliens. However, Morton, made these decisions on his own, without reference to Acts of Congress. He has his priorities, or lack there of, but Congress has actually told Morton and the Obama Regime, that there are priorities that he must follow. However, in contempt for both Congress, the law and the Constitution, Morton continues to ignore that which is not politically palatable to his master.

Congresses priorities, as expressed by its Acts, were recently highlighted by the State of Alabama in its excellent filing in response the the execrable, disjointed and legally flaccid lawsuits by various illegal aliens and those who support illegal immigration. Besides demolishing every claim by the illegal aliens, the State of Alabama highlighted the problem with the Obama Administrative Amnesty and Morton's "priorities." They are, in fact, without legal basis:

Here is the filing on the claim by the illegal aliens that ICE doesn't want to hear from the State of Alabama reporting illegal aliens and its contact with the Law Enforcement Support Center:

Congress created a federal obligation to respond to inquiries, mandating that federal immigration authorities "shall respond" to every inquiry. In other words, Congress ordered the federal government to prioritize its resources in this manner; responding [to] state and local inquiries would henceforth be one of its highest priorities.As the District of Arizona correctly observed in the immigration preemption case involving 8 U.S.C 1373 that would end up in the Supreme Court as Whiting: "Congress encourages sate adn federal authoirities to communicate regarding immigration status. ... The fact that the Act will result in additional inquiries to the federal government is consistent with federal law."

A double whammy, there is no authority for the Executive to make any priorities in conflict with an Act of Congress and Congress has created a priority, the reporting, arrest, and removal of illegal aliens, all in cooperation with State and local law enforcement agencies.